Mr. Toews (Provencher, Man.) issued a press release as an MP in his riding, but did not issue one as the minister of Public Safety and the government did not issue a public statement or news release announcing the RCMP had completed destruction of the registry data, save for the court-ordered preservation of Quebec records.
Instead, while Mr. Toews informed provincial and territorial public safety ministers at a closed-door meeting in Regina and privately advised Conservative MPs the records had been destroyed, urging them to issue statements in their electoral districts, news to the public came through two die-hard opponents of the gun registry with close ties to the Conservatives.
Greg Farrant, a member of Mr. Toews’ Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee, who is also manager of government affairs for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, reported the registry’s demise in a Canada News Wire bulletin on Nov. 1, the same day the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, led by ardent registry foe Tony Bernardo, disclosed the event in an electronic newsletter to members.
“This is the first time a country has rolled back so-called government ‘gun control’ legislation anywhere in the world,” the newsletter said.
“It may feel like it’s too little, too late, but rest assured we are the envy of international firearms advocates everywhere,” said the announcement.
Mr. Bernardo, whose close ties to the U.S. National Rifle Association have been documented in detail by the Canadian Coalition for Gun Control, is also a member of Mr. Toews’ government-appointed firearms advisory panel along with Mr. Farrant and 10 other firearms enthusiasts or gun registry opponents, including two gun dealers, two rank-and-file police officers who opposed the registry, which was strongly supported by the Canadian Association of Chief of Police, Linda Thom, a gold medal pistol champion at the 1984 Olympics, and Gary Mauser, a retired professor at B.C.’ Simon Fraser University, one-time Reform Party candidate, rifle club president and longtime adviser to the Canadian National Firearms Association.
Soon after the law ending the registry passed last March, the advisory committee met with Mr. Toews to begin lobbying for more changes to gun laws.
The recommendations included easing licence provisions and grandfathering regulations against expired licences to allow owners with expired licences to “keep firearms in their possession without a criminal charge or penalty,” according to documents obtained by the Coalition for Gun Control.
Mr. Toews’ communications director, Julie Carmichael, confirmed Mr. Toews deliberately did not issue a news release announcing the completion of his government’s fight to destroy the registry records.
“When Minister Toews was in Regina on Oct. 31, he informed his provincial and territorial counterparts that the electronic data outside of Quebec had been deleted,” Ms. Carmichael said in an email to The Hill Times.
“Members of Parliament were also informed and encouraged to hold local announcements in their ridings. Some MPs issued news releases during that week,” she said.
Ms. Carmichael included a web link to an announcement from rural Manitoba Conservative MP James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake, Man.).
“James Bezan, MP Selkirk-Interlake, announced that as of Oct. 31, 2012, the long-gun registry, with the exception of registry information related to Quebec, has been destroyed,” Mr. Bezan’s statement said.
Mr. Toews issued a statement in his riding as a Member of Parliament, Ms. Carmichael informed The Hill Times after this story was posted. Ms. Toews' local website statement was virtually identical to Mr. Bezan's MP web page letter.
The government launched an appeal last month of a permanent injunction from Quebec Superior Court requiring the RCMP to preserve records on the province’s gun owners, allowing Quebec to maintain its own registry.
The former Liberal government under prime minister Jean Chrétien established the registry in 1994, primarily in response to a rampaging gunman’s massacre of 14 female engineering students at Montreal’s L’Ecole Polytechnique in 1989.
“Our government is making our streets and communities safer by targeting criminals who use firearms, not law-abiding Canadians. Make no mistake, the NDP and the Liberals will not hesitate to bring back the long gun registry if they are ever given the chance to form government. Now that the data has been destroyed, it can never be recovered—even by Thomas Mulcair or Justin Trudeau,” Mr. Bezan’s statement said, referring to past support for the registry from NDP Leader Tom Mulcair (Outremont, Que.) and Liberal leadership contender Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.)
Ms. Carmichael discounted the fact that opposition MPs were not informed the registry destruction was completed, except for the court-preserved Quebec data, even though Liberal, NDP, Bloc Québécois MPs and MP and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) may have wanted to issue statements that day to criticize the record destruction.
All opposition parties opposed the legislation ending the registry and destroying its records, Bill C-19, as it passed through Parliament.
Ms. Carmichael suggested the opposition parties, as well as groups in support of the registry, should have been aware through documents from the Quebec court case.
“Conservative MPs were informed, however, the date of the destruction of data was also publicly communicated in affidavits in two separate court proceedings,” Ms. Carmichael said.
NDP MP Françoise Boivin (Gatineau, Que.) said the government likely limited news of the destruction to allow rural Conservative MPs to boast about it, while Conservative MPs in urban centres, particularly in Toronto where voters want more control over firearms, would not have to mention it.
“It’s good for some of the rural ridings, but it’s not necessarily a good thing for the Conservative in the big Toronto area, in the big centres, where they want to keep a good profile,” she said.
The president of the Coalition for Gun Control, Wendy Cukier, said the public has grown less and less aware of the registry’s demise following the hot debate in Parliament only a year ago.
Ms. Cukier said the low-bridge approach that Mr. Toews employed for the registry’s destruction would contribute to public ambivalence.
“Even Conservatives are horrified to find out now that there is no record kept when someone goes in and buys rifles and shotguns in a gun store,” Ms. Cukier said.
“It’s inevitable that the next time there’s a shooting with a rifle or a shotgun, people will ask the question, ‘How did this person get the gun, and where did the gun from?’ ”
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: Tim Naumetz
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